One day Buddy was sitting in the sand, on the banks of the pond, when, all at once, he had an idea.

“I know what I’m going to do!” he exclaimed.  “I’m gong to build a sand house.  I wish Brighteyes was here to help me,” but his sister had gone in the pen to help her mamma get dinner ready, for Mrs. Pigg expected company that day; Mr. and Mrs. Bushytail were coming.  So Buddy had to start to build the house all alone.  He piled a lot of sand in a heap, together with stones, and sticks and bits of duck-weed, and then he started in.

First he scooped out a hollow place, and that was for the cellar.  Then he stuck sticks up around the edges of the hole, and began to pile up the sand, to make the walls of the house.  Just as he was doing this, what should he hear but footsteps running along the sand.  He looked, up and gave a shout of delight.

“Hello, Billie and Johnnie Bushytail!” he cried, as he saw the two little squirrel boys.  “You’re just in time!  Come on and help me build this sand house!”

“Sure!” agreed Billie and Johnnie, as they frisked their tails, just as the cook sometimes frisks the dusting brush when she wants to knock the crumbs from the table to the floor.  “Can you stay long?” asked Buddy.

“As long as papa and mamma do,” answered Johnnie.  “They are in your house now, and so is Sister Sallie.  We’re going to stay to dinner, but first we’ll help you build the sand house.”

So they all three got busy.  They piled and scooped the sand up around the upright sticks, and, pretty soon, believe me, if it really didn’t begin to look like a real house.  It was about as big as a big box, and nearly as high; and the cellar was quite large.

“What will we do with the house when we’ve finished it?” asked Billie Bushytail.

“We’ll go in it and play we’re robbers,” suggested Johnnie, as he patted the sand with his paws, to make it smooth.

“No, we’ll be pirates,” decided Buddy.  “Pirates always stay near salt water, and this is salt water, because Percival emptied a whole bag of salt in it.”

“All right,” agreed the squirrel boys, so they went on building the house.  They put little pebbles all around it for a fence, and laid a gravel walk up from the pond to the front door, and stuck up little sticks for trees in the front yard, and made a garden, because Buddy said, even if they were pirates, they would have to have something to eat, and they planted duck-weed in the garden and made believe it was radishes and lettuce and cabbage and ever so many things; even apples and pears and peaches.

Well, pretty soon the sand house was finished; that is, all but the top.

“What will we have for a roof?” asked Billie.

“I’ll show you,” said Buddy, so he laid sticks across the top of the sand walls, and on top of the sticks he placed duck-weed.  Then, on top of the weed he and the squirrel boys put sand, until it was really the nicest house of its kind you could find if you walked a mile, or, maybe even two miles.